It says something about the man's confidence.... Here was an unknown Chinese man in Hollywood America, and displaying every bit the sentiment that THEY were lucky to be the ones to have him in the room, rather than vice versa.

Bruce once said that he was going to be a bigger star than Steve McQueen and be the highest paid actor in Hollywood.Farking mental dreaming. BUT, had he not died he would have reached those goals. Titanus from Italy was going to paid him more than any actor at that time. Really amazing possibilities this guy had. Scheduled to be on the Johnny Carson show as well. Plane ticket was used to carry the coffin to Seattle.

Old video. Bears repeating. As someone who knew him as a cheesy martial arts actor and never heard him speak as himself (or read anything he wrote) until I was an adult, I found Bruce Lee a much more impressive guy than I ever expected. Especially since he reached right across the cultural divide -- he spoke to Americans about Eastern ideas as easily as an American could describe American ideas to another American.

If you watch his movies, it's easy to believe he grew up in Hong Kong getting in frequent street fights as a teenager. If you hear him speak and read what he wrote, it's easy to believe he took philosophy classes at the University of Washington. It's impressive that he's the same guy, one guy.

When it came to martial arts, he was supremely eclectic and pragmatic. He wrote some rough notes on non-Chinese martial arts that prefigured the era of mixed martial arts -- I specifically remember reading his notes that the punches and upper body movements of western boxing deserved to be studied and possibly emulated. Also judo. He didn't want to overlook anything. He even recognized that the style that worked for him (pure striking, hands and feet, avoiding grappling) depended on his body type and talents, so people with different abilities might require a completely different fighting style. That was completely contrary to what westerners thought martial arts should be -- one pure style passed down for thousands of years via a wise Oriental master. At the same time he introduced eastern martial arts to the United States, he worked hard to undermine the mysticism and dogmatism that ended up characterizing eastern martial arts in the U.S. long after his death. Mixed artial arts was an apocalypse for "pure" styles like Tae Kwon Do, various Kung Fu styles, and Karate, but Bruce Lee would have loved it. Loved it! He would have been on MMA like a physicist on the LHC.

I watched it with the sound off, and was completely drawn in by his natural charisma. Shades of Elvis there, in the quick smile, the dimples, the crooked smirking mouth. Amazing guy. Very very cool. Never seen his films... I may try them now.

If I remember correctly he learned to fight to defend himself on the street and never became a pro fighter.

He may not have been pro, but he definitely fought organized. Read his Wiki entry.

Back in those days, the only 'pro' fighting was boxing, professional wrestling, and muy thai down in SE Asia. No MMA. There were organized demonstrations and competitions(think the end of Karate Kid), but nothing 'professional'. Moreover, the old guard in the various arts (kung-fu, karate, jiu-jitsu, ect) looked down on such displays.There wasn't nearly the same presence in our culture then that martial arts has now. Very few 'McDojos' as opposed to finding one in every strip mall nowdays.

Even though it's a fictionalization, 'Dragon' is a pretty accurate story of Bruce Lee's life, from what I understand. My best friend trained in tai-chi in Oakland, CA, and his sifu was one of the old guard masters. That fight in 'Dragon' for Bruce to win the right to teach kung fu to non-Chinese? That happened and my friend's sifu was one of the judges. Only Bruce took down his opponent without breaking much of a sweat. He later broke his back in a motorcycle accident, which put him in traction where he started writing down the fundamentals of Jeet Kun Do.

So yeah, Bruce Lee would have wiped the floor with any of today's 'pro' fighters. And if he were alive today, even at the age of 70+, he'd still kick their ass.

RoyFokker'sGhost:That fight in 'Dragon' for Bruce to win the right to teach kung fu to non-Chinese? That happened and my friend's sifu was one of the judges. Only Bruce took down his opponent without breaking much of a sweat.

There were a lot of contradictory accounts of that fight, but the one consistency among all of them was that he was gassed by the end. Even his wife, who always told the most flattering version, said he completely changed his approach to martial arts training because of his dissatisfaction with his performance.

AustinFakir:RoyFokker'sGhost: That fight in 'Dragon' for Bruce to win the right to teach kung fu to non-Chinese? That happened and my friend's sifu was one of the judges. Only Bruce took down his opponent without breaking much of a sweat.

There were a lot of contradictory accounts of that fight, but the one consistency among all of them was that he was gassed by the end. Even his wife, who always told the most flattering version, said he completely changed his approach to martial arts training because of his dissatisfaction with his performance.

Correction, I remembered the story wrong. Double checked with my friend and he said that Lee didn't suffer the back injury at that fight.

So, the story goes that BL's brother was a fencer. BL wanted to spar with him, and the brother always said no. BL bugged him until finally he agreed, on the condition that they each just use one arm. Under these conditions, the brother won every exchange.

This helped BL understand the advantages of specialized training. So the story goes.